Thursday, September 11, 2014

Do you think the average storm trooper knows how to install a toilet main?

By Paul ChenArguments for more Vocational training in Poland and even your country

When I was younger, my parents
told me in order to have a good future, you must go to a good college and get a
degree. With a diploma in hand you will
be able to get a good job and you will be able to support your family and have
a good life. After the last economic
crisis, this contract is no longer valid.
Upward social mobility is getting more difficult to achieve. However, there are still millions of students
going to universities hoping to graduate and get a job. The last few graduating classes are quite possibly
the first that had graduated without a good job prospect. It is a global problem.

There are many students in Poland
who are in universities or other higher institutions of learning just to say
that they are going through the motions because there are a big push for this. Many of them are getting degrees that will
not turn into good job prospects. In good
economic times, degrees of language philology, culture studies, and art history
might land you a decent job. However, in
a post crisis economy, you will be lucky to be waiting tables after
graduation. Such pushes is good for
governments and educational institutions to be able to boast high graduation
rates and get funding. However, it can
also push up unemployment numbers as well, especially if the students graduate
without a job in hand.

So what to do?

Watch this:

These days there are a lot of
emphasis on developing high tech startups and awesome apps for your smart
device, clever gadgets like the new Apple Watch and the internet of things is
set to automate our homes and make it very smart.On the Death Star, they have awesome sensors
and a planet destroying laser cannon.However, the Death Star needs to be wired to do so.But they still have to defecate
somewhere.Who is going to feed the
storm troopers and Darth Vader?Who will
keep it clean? Who will do the wiring?Who will do the actual building of the Empire's ultimate weapon?

The results of the ninth Manpower
Group 2014 Talent Shortage Survey show that skilled manual workers are the
occupation with the biggest lack of workforce. Among the most wanted there are:
welders, fitters, machinists, assemblers, forklift operators, mechanics and
electricians. “The employees’ shortage
is due to the elimination of vocational training in the Polish education system
in the ’90. We also observe the lack of engineers”, commented PAIiIZ president
Sławomir Majman.

What is the main reason for the
professionals’ shortage? As the survey shows, environmental and organizational
factors have the strongest impact on this situation. The lack of technical
skills has been described as the major problem by 35% of global companies and
50% of employers in Poland. Also the lack of proper candidates and the lack of
experience have been reported.

We live in a society that places
a high value on the professions and white-collar jobs, and that still considers
blue-collar work lower status. In her report on vocational education, Professor
Alison Wolf concluded that jobs like plumbing, carpentry, electrics – you know,
the useful ones in society – have been downgraded in social status over the
years, a situation she said must be amended if we are going to solve the huge
youth unemployment problem.

There might be a reason why your
child isn’t feeling motivated with or failing that academic subject. It could be learning disabilities, or it
could be that academia isn’t his area of interest. However, if you put a pair of pliers, a pan,
or a hammer in his hands, he will perform miracles. Educator, Howard Gardner say that we all have
different intelligences. Most people have more than one. Because of
that, we can use it to find the things that interest us the most or help us
learn where our talents are and make a viable career out of it.

A Proposal

What need to be done is to reinstate
vocational programs in Poland, nationwide to give young people a choice of
vocation or academia. A well-regulated apprenticeship
program should also be available where certain criterias must be met before an
apprentice will gain a qualified status.
That way, you don’t have young people thinking that they know everything
about a certain field after three months of training. Furthermore, it will help the market gain
credibility. You are sure to get a
qualified electrician when you call for one. Of course, some core academic subjects should be taught as well as an introductory course on running a business.

With such programs in place
turning out qualified workers, you also get better built houses with good
plumbing and safe wiring that could cut down on energy costs.

What does it have to do with
startups?

Randal Graves’ argument says it
all. You want your hardware factory to
work well. If you want your server to
work properly, you need a good technician to wire your data center well. You need a good plumber or HVAC technician to
make sure the air conditioners work well.
You don’t want water leaking on your electronic systems or have a short or
a surge in the electrical grid that will knock out the electricity in the city
or region. No matter how great your startup is, without a solid infrastructure, it will not succeed.

Thank you for reading another one of my posts done just for you! If you liked what you read please share it by using one of the buttons up top and check out other posts in this blog. I don’t want you to miss out on future posts so please follow me on Twitter@Eurodude23. If you haven’t done it already, please like my fan page byclicking here! See you next time!

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An English blog about Krakow Startup

Hello readers, My name is Paul Chen and welcome to K’Sup. My goal is to provide you an English language based blog on the events as well as highlight some of the enterprises who are trying to get their spot on the map as well as to archive the on-going activities at the same time do some trend-spotting. I hope you will find K’Sup both informative and inspirational. The name K’Sup is a combination of K for Krakow and S for start and UP. ‘Sup is colloquial for what’s up in American slang.